Our West Virginia home is generally a quiet place, especially in the Northern Panhandle where crimes that terrorize other communities are especially rare.
Now, this is not to say there are not violent crimes that occur; they just seem to happen with less frequency. So, residents of our Mountain State pay close attention when the unthinkable does occur.
Like it did 10 days ago.
On Wednesday morning, April 17, Boone County 911 operators received a call about someone suffering cardiac arrest. Boone County Sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to the home where a teenager resided with her mother and two grandparents. At the home, what they found, will not be easily forgotten for the first responders.
The teenage girl was found on a foam pad on a bathroom floor, “emaciated to a skeletal state,” which prompted an investigation into her death. Initially, the girl was identified by the initials K.M.
Those initials have since been changed to reveal the identity of the girl as fourteen-year-old Kyneddi Miller. The following day, the girl’s mother, Julie Anne Stone Miller, was arrested and charged with felony child neglect causing death. Interviews of family members and neighbors began to occur. The child’s grandmother told investigators Kyneddi had an eating disorder that dated back quite a few years. She also said she had not been eating in the last four to five months. Also telling investigators the child’s health had been in decline for years and in the last four to five days she had declined so badly, physically, she was not able to function on her own.
No medical treatment was sought for Kyneddi. The family did not provide any medical records to indicate any type of diagnosis, let alone medical treatment for the disorder or any other.
‘This is not a Republican or Democrat issue.’
Family members disclosed Kyneddi had been in and out of school since 2019. Law enforcement was able to confirm she had been enrolled in Boone County Public Schools at one time; however, through the FOIA process, news sources have reported their confirmation Ms. Miller started homeschooling Kyneddi in February 2021. It is unknown whether proper homeschooling protocols were followed for Kyneddi, but the grandmother also shared the child had been outside of the home twice in the last four years.
This investigation is very early in the stages and more charges could – and probably should – be coming.
Now, let’s go back a few more years to another name very familiar to West Virginia lawmakers, Raylee Browning. Raylee Jalynn Browning was living with her father (Marty Browning), his girlfriend (Julie Titchenelle), her three children, and the girlfriend’s sister (Sherie Titchenelle) at the time of her death at the age of eight, in December 2018.
Raylee, as a young child was frequently seen for injuries, but excuses were always given. Raylee was on seven medications for autism and mood disorder. It is unclear if she had ever received a diagnosis for either. The adults who were supposed to be caring for her more than likely wanted to control her behavior and have a mechanism to excuse the injuries.
Similar to Kyneddi, for a time, Raylee was enrolled in her local public school.
Teachers at her school noticed the bruises. They noticed she was hungry. She asked cafeteria workers for extra food, and they called Child Protective Services on many of these occasions. Teachers are mandatory reporters when abuse is suspected.
The caregivers could only come up with so many excuses for her injuries; they tried to blame it on her as self-harm or on her disabilities (that have not been diagnosed). Possibly fearing their violent activity and abusive behavior being exposed, Sherie, the main abuser in Raylee’s case, withdrew her from school under the guise she would be homeschooled.
Julie’s children, the other children in the home where Raylee was living, were actually homeschooled. Sherie was part of a homeschool group, while Raylee was isolated and there only for Sherie to torture and abuse more and more. Raylee even shared a room with Sherie. Sherie was free to do whatever she wanted because there was no one to report what they noticed on Raylee, and Raylee had no one to talk to about what was occurring at home.
Raylee became unconscious. Sherie decided to punish Raylee by refusing to permit her to drink anything for three days. Raylee was so thirsty, she drank toilet water. Shortly after, she developed sepsis. Sherie took her to the hospital with a whole new host of excuses for the harm she had inflicted on the child.
Police interviewed the adults – you know, the “caregivers” – and none of their stories were the same. Due to this, the police opened an investigation. Their findings were disgusting.
All three of the adults with whom Raylee lived were charged with her death.
In 2020, W.Va. Del. Shawn Fluharty (D-5) introduced House Bill 4440, known as Raylee’s Law, to permit county boards of education to reject a homeschooling application if a CPS case is open. Additionally, it would prohibit homeschooling by a parent, guardian, or instructors who have been convicted of domestic violence, child abuse, and neglect.
This bill has been introduced every year since, as HB2584 in 2021, as HB2584 in 2022, as HB2315 in 2023, and as HB4491 in 2024. During the 2024 session, a small victory came when a very narrow version of the language in HB4491 was amended into HB5180.
Fluharty always has had bi-partisan support and frequently has reached across the aisle for co-sponsors.
This is not a Republican or Democrat issue.
We need to do better for children, victimized by their guardians and in these cases, parents. There are several children growing up in normal situations in our mountain state, and we only learn their names when they meet a tragic fate.
It’s time we stop learning the names of kids because they were killed.
